Ghost in the Shell: Arise

Overview

To start off, this post is about the first three movies in the Ghost in the Shell: Arise series. There are a total of five movies in this series, but I’ve only watched the first three because that’s all Netflix had and I didn’t like it enough to go searching for the last two.

The first movie, or “Border” as they refer to themselves as is Ghost Pain, the second Border is Ghost Whispers, and the third is Ghost Tears. The fourth and fifth which I haven’t seen are Ghost Stands Alone and Pyrophoric Cult.

I also watched these movies maybe a year ago and apparently they weren’t very memorable because I don’t remember most of what happened, but I’ve got enough to make it through a short review.

The basic plot of this series takes place in 2027, only nine years from now, in Japan. Kusanagi, the main character, has a prosthetic body which gives her superhuman abilities; however, the organization she works for is technically the owner of her body since they financed it.

While a prosthetic body has its uses, it comes at a price. Kusanagi suffers memory loss, much like that from Gunslinger Girl, but in this case it’s caused by a hack. This ends up causing her to leave the 501 Organization which is the real start of the series. From here on out Kusanagi joins a new task force for solving crimes and whatnot.

Characters

The characters are probably the main thing I don’t remember about this series, but Kusanagi is the protagonist so at least we can start with her. She’s basically a cyborg who works as a detective/counter terrorist militant.

Unlike many of the other cyborgs in the series, she chooses which side to fight for based on her beliefs. Other characters simply fight for whichever side is willing to pay them the most at the time.

Throughout the series, Kusanagi struggles with fragmented memories of her past which occasionally get in the way of her investigations.

The other character I remember the most is Logicoma, which is a giant spider-like robot vehicle. Really I don’t remember too much else about this character other than that it was the best for whatever reason.

Kusanagi vs. Raizo

Conclusion

So as you could probably tell from reading this, I don’t remember much of this anime, but that in itself is part of the review. The fact that I forget most of the series after roughly a year means it’s not a very memorable one which isn’t a good thing. At the time, however, I rated it as a 6/10 so we’ll be sticking with that rating.

Honestly if you’re looking for a sci-fi anime about crime fighting then I would just recommend watching Psycho-Pass instead. Detective Tsunemori looks similar to Kusanagi and the plot is sort of similar in that it’s sci-fi crime solving which occasionally involves cyborgs and other futuristic technology.

The OP for the Ghost in the Shell: Arise – Alternative Architecture series is available here.